Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Republicans love to cite Abraham Lincoln, but they almost always misrepresent him.

Ohio Governor John Kasich is the latest example, using a fake Lincoln
quote and misrepresenting his tax policies. Lincoln actually instituted a
progressive income tax to help pay for the Civil War. By contrast,
during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Republicans cut taxes during
wartime for the first time in American history.

The parties have changed so much over the years that, if he were alive today, Lincoln would obviously be a Democrat.-------------------------------------------------------------------Please visit our Facebook page.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

John
Boehner and Mitch McConnell flooded our television screens with a long
list of outright lies during their 60 Minutes interview Sunday night.
Scott Pelley tried, but no one could possibly keep up with all the
distortions, misinformation, and fabrication coming from the two leaders
of the Republican Party. Dishonesty has become standard operating
procedure because Republicans know that the truth about their party's
actions would be rejected by most Americans.

Monday, January 19, 2015

Today
we celebrate the life of Martin Luther King, whose liberal American
values about human dignity included the idea that all people deserve the
opportunity to work for a living wage. Nearly five decades later,
King's call to raise the minimum wage still needs to be heard.-------------------------------------------------------------------Please visit our Facebook page.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

In
addition to taking meaningless and childish votes, Republicans in
Congress are withholding funding to the entire Department of Homeland
Security as a bargaining chip. Their actions are irresponsible and an
insult to the many dedicated law enforcement officers working in that
department to keep us safe.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Texas
Republican Randy Weber deleted his Obama/Hitler tweet and sort of
"apologized" (although not to the president)--but what kind of twisted
thought process leads a person to the conclusion that comparing anyone
to Hitler is a good idea?--------------------------------------------------------------------Please visit our Facebook page.

Monday, January 12, 2015

As the new year begins, let's look into our fake crystal
ball and predict some of the biggest news stories of 2015.

President Obama will take executive action to help the
American people, and most Republicans will pretend that no president in history
ever took any similar actions, and they'll shout that Obama is an evil dictator
who also happens to be a clueless pawn manipulated by special interests.

Critics of the president will simultaneously claim he should
be nicer and tougher on Republicans. They will not see the slightest
contradiction in their views.

Clear evidence will show that Obamacare continues to help
Americans get high-quality, affordable health insurance, saving millions of
dollars and thousands of lives. Republicans will continue to claim that the law
is a Socialist train wreck meant to destroy American and kill Grandma.

A plane will crash somewhere the Eastern Hemisphere under
mysterious circumstances. Within hours of the first reports, someone will claim
that President Obama is happy that a plane crashed so the media will be too
distracted to ask questions about Benghazi.

Despite multiple investigations that have shown no
wrongdoing by the presidential administration, Republicans in Congress will spend
millions of taxpayers' dollars to convene Benghazi hearings, asking questions
that have been repeatedly answered while casting blame where none exists and
trying to score cheap political points from a tragedy.

The evidence that global climate change is already affecting
us will be overwhelming, but people addicted to the conservative agenda and
fossil fuels will rant that obvious reality is a liberal hoax.

An exotic disease that causes untold suffering in other
parts of the world will make a brief appearance in the United States. Our
public health system will prevent the disease from spreading, but elected
Republicans and conservative media pundits will fearmonger and blame President
Obama for an outbreak that doesn't happen.

Marriage equality will bring an improved level of
civilization to many states and simultaneously bring cries of the end of
civilization from many conservatives.

Several truly terrible former, current, and prospective
politicians will be the focus of speculation about a run for the Republican
Presidential nomination. None of these people will ever be president, thank
God.

Some conservative pundits and Republican presidential
candidates will make offhand remarks implying that Hillary Clinton is too old
to run for president. Most of the people making these comments will actually be
older than Hillary Clinton.

Some reality-impaired commentators will go on obscure
right-wing talk shows to warn everyone that President Obama plans to cancel the
2016 elections and stay in the presidency. Thousands if not millions of
gullible people will nod their heads in agreement. At least one Republican
member of Congress will repeat this laughable claim as if it deserves serious
consideration.

Vladimir Putin will continue to defy international common
sense and run the Russian economy into the ground while many fake-patriots will
praise Putin as somehow superior to our own president.

Extremist Muslims will kill innocent people, and many
conservative pundits will blame an entire religion. Extremist Christians will
kill innocent people, and many conservative pundits will call them "lone
wolves."

After a shooting, Republicans will tell everyone that mental
health, not guns, is the real issue. Then these same Republicans will try to
destroy Obamacare, the largest expansion of mental health treatment access in
American history.

Several rouge police officers will kill or injure unarmed
civilians, and anyone who demands that these bad apples be held accountable
will be accused of hating all police officers.

Some Democratic candidates for office will pretend that they
don't support many of President Obama's positions. They will lose. Some
Republican candidates will pretend that they support many of Obama's positions,
being careful not to name the president. They will win.

A dwindling but loud contingent of insecure conservatives
will claim that the phrase "Happy Holidays" is oppressive to the
hundreds of millions of Americans who freely celebrate Christmas with no hint
of actual oppression.

Some elected Democrats and liberal commentators will make
occasional remarks that are not completely accurate. Hundreds of elected
Republicans and conservative pundits will frequently make blatantly false
statements. Instead of researching the issues and pointing out falsehoods, the
mainstream corporate media will coddle both sides equally as if equating truth
and lies makes their reporting unbiased.

Fox News will make many ridiculous claims about President
Obama--that he's trying to ban cupcake sprinkles, for example. Yet Fox will
still be the highest-rated "news" network in the world because
dishonesty and fake outrage have always been components of Fox's successful
business model.

Obviously, we really don't need a crystal ball to predict
what will happen in 2015. The best predictor of the near future has
always been the recent past. All of the predictions listed here are actually
events that happened in 2014. Many also popped up in 2013. And 2012, 2011,
2010, 2009, etc. You get the idea.

A good New Year's resolution might be to recognize
the pattern. Let's stop being surprised and call out these events in the coming
year, holding the misinformers accountable. Better yet, let's work to prevent
as much of this insanity in 2015 as we can.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Mitch
McConnell (R-KY) spent the last six years claiming that the bad economy
was all Obama's fault. Meanwhile, Republicans blocked Obama's jobs
bills and did almost nothing to help the American people. Now McConnell
says that the economy is magically improving because Republicans just
took over the Congress. That's a big bucket of good, old-fashioned,
Kentucky horse manure. Ask PolitiFact.

Anyone
who use the phrase "Biblical Marriage" should actually be required to
read the Bible. The part about executing non-virgin women sounds pretty
terrible, to say the least. This isn't an attack on Christians in
general. It's a call to accountability for people who exploit any
religion to support their own prejudices.

Make Common Sense Common Again

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About the Book

Has the United States gone insane? Considering the political circus of recent years, the easy answer is “yes.” But John Sheirer looks deeper to identify the underlying confusion and show us the core American values that can overcome the insanity, let us laugh at ourselves, and find common sense solutions to our nation’s confusion. We don’t expect political commentary to come in the form of compelling literature, but Sheirer’s gentle wit, knowledge of the issues, compassion for his fellow humans, and highly tuned B.S. detector lift this book from being just another partisan rant to a literate and readable examination of our shared citizenship and humanity.

Praise for John Sheirer's Writing

"... an outlier of logic, reason, and humor in today's often murky and distracting political dialogue. John Sheirer gives entertaining and incisive views on media, policy, elections, and the compendium of issues facing Americans. He gets us refocused and inspired to follow the road to real progressive values." -- David Pakman, host of The David Pakman Show

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"In a political world cluttered with knee-jerk opinions and mindless punditry, John Sheirer is a refreshing alternative voice. He shows liberals how to defeat right-wing lies, not with demagoguery and hysterics, but with common sense wisdom and a neighborly style." -- Bill Scher, host of the Talk Me Down podcast

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"John Sheirer does a great job debunking right-wing propaganda and telling the fascinating story of America's real political majority--your normal-to-the-point-of-being-boring neighbors, friends, co-workers, and fellow churchgoers whose liberal agenda is strongly supported by most Americans." -- Driftglass, political blogger and co-host of The Professional Left Podcast

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“John Sheirer brings an everyman’s approach to any number of issues. Like reading your favorite comic strip first, John’s columns take priority over everything else on the Op-Ed page, always making sharp and compelling points without resorting to the sledgehammer techniques of others.” -- Bob Flaherty, Morning Host, WHMP-96.9 FM, 2014 New England Radio Personality of the Year, Author of novel Puff

About the Author

John Sheirer (pronounced Shy-er) is an award-winning teacher and author. His previous book on politics and current events, Tales of a Real American Liberal, gave rise to a very popular Facebook page by the same name where John posts political commentary that reaches hundreds of thousands of readers every day. At the local level, he writes a monthly column for his hometown newspaper, the Northampton, Massachusetts, Daily Hampshire Gazette (the 2015 New England Newspaper of the Year).
John is the author of many other books, including his delightful series of children’s picture books coauthored with his dog Libby. His previous books also include a creative writing idea book, What’s the Story?; a short story collection, One Bite; two memoirs, Loop Year: 365 Days on the Trail and Growing Up Mostly Normal in the Middle of Nowhere; and a public speaking guidebook, Shut Up and Speak!
John has taught English and communications at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield, Connecticut, for more than two decades.